Folding lunch-box.



No 884,824. PATENTED APR|14, 1908.

- B. LAPOINTE.

FOLDING LUNCH BOX. APPLIOATION'FILBD HAY 27,1907.

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EDOUARD LAPOINTE, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

FOLDING LUNCH-BDX,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 14, 1908.

Application filed May 27, 1907. Serial No. 376,010.

To all whom 1' t may concern:

Be it known that l, EnoUAnn LAPUIN'IE, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New llaven and State of Connecticut, have invented anew and-useful Improvement in Folding Lunch- Boxes; and I do hereby declare the folk-aw ing, when taken in connection with the ac- & companyirn drawings and the letters of reference mar red thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the su me, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure l a perspective vicwof a lunch-box constructed in accordance with my invention, and shownas broken downand with the cover applied to it. Fig. 2- a corresponding view with the cover removed. Fig. 3 a perspective viewof the box set up but with the cover off; Fig. 4 a view of the box in front elevation as setup and with the covcron. Fig. 5 a broken perspective view showing one of the corners of the box to illustrate the initial positions of itssetting up fins and ears when the box being set up. Fig. (i a broken plan view of one of the front corners of the box, showing the position of the parts before the front of the box is sprung to uinp its setting-up eart'ronr the inside to the outside of the adjacent endpicce. Fig. 7 is a like view shmring the ear as so jumped.

My invention relates to an improvement in folding lunch boxes, the object being to produce at a low cost for manufacture, a simple and durable box constructed with particu ar reference to carrying a napkin when folded, and to convenience in being speedily set up and knocked down.

With these ends in view, my invention consists in a folding lunch box having certain details of construction as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, I employ a shallow tray 2 having endllanges 3, 4, and front and rear flanges 5, 6, all of these flanges being of the same height and producing a tray of suflicient depth to. not only receive the front-piece 7 and backpiece 8, and the end-pieces 9 and T0 of the box, but also to receive a napkin, knife, fork and spoon, or anything else which may be desired to keep in the box when it is knocked down. The said frontpiece 7 is hinged to the flange 5, the back 8 to the flange 6, the end-piece 9 to the flange 4, and the end-piece 10- to the flange 25, the said parts being constructed in the usual 'inanner for being hinged together.

For the purpose of locking the front 7, back 8 and end-pieces t) and 10 together, the said endiieces are formed upon their side edges witi setting-up fins 11, 1], extending to their lower edges but terminating below their upper edges, while the upper edges of the front and baciepieces 7 and 8 are formed with corresponutin setting-up ears 12, 12, arranged so as to clear the upper ends-of the fins ll. The fins ll stand at a right angle to the end-pieces 9 and H) and are located in planes parallel with the. planes of the front and backieees 7 and H when the box is set up. ()n t ie other hand the ears ,1) stand at a right angle to the front and hack-pieces 7 and 8 and are located in planes parallel with the end-pieces t) and it). When the box is set up the said fins 11 and ears 12 are thus ar ranged at right angles to each other.

To set up the box, the end-pieces 9 and 10 and the front and back-pieces 7 and 8 are elevated so that when the said parts are brought into heir vertical or final the fins 11 will be on the. outside 0 and the ears 12 on the inside of the box as shown by Fig. 5. The metal from which the parts are made being thin and flexible, the upper ends of the front and back-pieces are now sprung outward so as to permit the cars 12 to be jumped, so to speak, from the inside to the outside of the box as illustrated by Figs. (5 and 7. The four corners \of the box having been treated in this way, a very rigid structure is obtained in less time than it takes to tell it.

To break down the box, the upper ends of the front and back-pieces 7 andiij8 are sprung outward enough to disengage the ears 12 from the upper corners of the end: ieces 9 and lOafter which the front and ackpieces 7 and 8 may be folded inward, and then the end ieces 9 and 10. When the latter are. folde. inward as shown in Fi 2, the fins 1]. shut over the front and rear flanges 5 and 6 of thetray 2. The flanged cover 13 fits over the upper edges of the front and ositions, the box,

back 7 and 8 and the end-pieces 9 and it) when the box is set up, as shown in Fi and over the tray 2 when the box is knot-lied down as shown in Fig. l. in each of these situations the cover excludes any dust-frmn the box. j 7

For convenience in removing the rover rom-the box when set up, and when broken'down, its side. flanges are by pref erence formed withthumb-notches 14. To secure the cover in place when the box is set up Iemploy two straps 15, 15, riveted to the end-pieces 9 and 10 and furnished with a buckle 16 of any up n'oved form. When the box is knocked own the straps are folded up out of the wny within the tray.

I claim:-

In a folding lunch box, the combination with a shallow trey having a front flange, a back flange and two end flanges, 0] a frontpiece, a back-piece and two end-pieces respectively hinged to the said front and back and end flanges of the said tray which is eda )ted in depth toieceive the said front and bECii pieces when the box is broken down and a cover adapted to lit the box when set u and to lit the tray when the box is broken down, the said end-pieces being provided on their side edges with setting-up fins standing at a right angle to them, and located in planes parallel with the said front and back pieces when the box is set up, and the said 'lront and back pieces being provided at their upper corners with setting-up ears standing at a right angle to then) and located in lanes parallel with the planes of the said enr -pieces when the box is set up and the said fins and ears being lo'cated at right angles to each other, and the said ears being s n'nng from the inner to the outer faces of t e said end-pieces in setting-up the box, and from the onterto the inner feces of the said end-pieees in breaking down the box.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence oi" two subscribing witnesses.

EDOUAR I) LAPOINTE. Witnesses:

JOSEPH P011101, CLARA .li. W'nnn. 

